Chimps denied legal personhood will be retired from research

STONY BROOK, N.Y. (AP) — Two chimpanzees that inspired an unsuccessful lawsuit to grant them personhood rights will be retired from research at a New York state university.

Stony Brook University professor Susan Larson tells Newsday (http://nwsdy.li/1MWyv1b ) that her experiments involving Hercules and Leo ended this year and the chimps will be leaving the university on Long Island soon.

Hercules and Leo gained attention when the Nonhuman Rights Project filed a lawsuit attempting to grant them legal personhood.

A judge dismissed the lawsuit Thursday.

The New Iberia Research Center at the University of Louisiana Lafayette owns the chimps and loaned them to Stony Brook in 2010.

The center tells Newsday that the chimps will no longer be used for research. Officials with the center wouldn't say when they will leave Stony Brook.

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